Istanbul cleans up after weekend riots, fresh clashes in Ankara

By
Euronews

Monday morning and a clean-up operation got underway in Istanbul after Sunday night’s clashes between protesters and riot police.

Shop keepers arrived to assess any damage while others had to negotiate debris strewn across streets as they made their way to offices to begin work.

Turkey’s newspapers filled their pages with analysis and comment on the last three nights of violence, adding to the speculation about where it will lead.

The same talk was all over the streets. “They (the protesters) want to continue, they want to protest. It is no longer only about trees. It is about what people think about the reaction to Erdogan’s party,” said student Asli Bankaci.

The authorities had been hoping the protests would subside as Turks returned to work. However around 200 people gathered in Istanbul’s Gezi Park for a fourth day of anti-government protests calling for Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to resign.

Reuters reported that Turkish police fired teargas at protesters in the capital Ankara on Monday afternoon.

The tear gas reponse came as about 1,000 demonstrators, mostly young people, advanced towards the police lines in the central Kizilay square chanting “Tayyip resign”.